


Too Young, Too Late

by wordsgo_here



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Class Bonding, Hurt/Comfort, Past Child Abuse, child characters, divine pulse gone wrong, help me tag this there are too many characters, no romance until post timeskip epilogue, spoilers for all routes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 04:07:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21030002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordsgo_here/pseuds/wordsgo_here
Summary: An ambush has Byleth pushing her limits to keep her students from dying. Sothis warned her that trying to go back so far before the battle would have its consequences. She just didn't think it would result in seven of her students becoming children.





	Too Young, Too Late

**Author's Note:**

> This is a self imposed Fictober challenge, hopefully I succeed. This is also a challenge to see if I can make myself like my least favorite characters, Ashe and Ingrid, more. 
> 
> Special Thanks to AJ for edits

Using the Divine Pulse was instinctive to Byleth. After so many battles, protecting her students, helping them grow, it became less of a divine ability and more a weapon to add to her arsenal. Gift from the Goddess or not, it was a convenient tool. Mistakes weren't uncommon when teaching children, after all. She was responsible for their lives and, so far, she had done well in keeping them all relatively healthy. She supposed it had made her too confident.

"Sothis." Byleth called out to the spirit that lived within her. The normally loud voice didn't respond. Time was stopped around them, so she had to be awake. There was a numb tingle in her fingertips that would have alarmed her if the situation didn't already call for panic. How was anyone supposed to predict an outcome like this? "Sothis, please, I need help."

This was an irregular situation to begin with. All three of Gaerg Mauch Monastery's main classes were on route to a mock battle. It was a tradition, the so called 'Battle of the Eagle and Lion.' An interesting concept, but Byleth questioned why a three way battle was named after a war between two nations.

Regardless, on they marched. The classes had a chance to intermingle when they rested, it being a two day march, but most were keeping to their usual peers. It was during one such rest that they were attacked. Giant beasts cut through the knights toward the children, leading a pack of bandits straight to her students.

Though surprised, the students reacted quickly enough to scramble for their weapons and retaliate. They were holding their own, with the support of their teachers. Byleth was confident that they could last until the elite knights, Knights of Seiros, came to back them up.

At least she was, until the enemy deployed mages. Powerful mages wielding dark magic. Since when did brigands have the money to hire mages? Or did the mages hire the brigands to soften up the knights before they struck? Either way, it was bad, and Byleth didn't have enough eyes to survey the whole battlefield at once.

A cry rang out and Byleth looked over to see several things happen at once. A battalion killed Ingrid and Ashe. Thieves snuck past their defences and stabbed Dorothea and Marianne. Claude fell to mage fire. Hubert and Edelgard fell to the enemy leader. Her students were dying.

The chaos of battle fell silent as time froze around them. The screams stopped, the scent of blood and fire vanished. The Divine Pulse took it all away. Byleth couldn't really move when she activated this ability, but she could take the time to go over the events that resulted in tragedy.

She had seen Jeralt and Catherine running to their aid, just a few seconds too late. Shamir had made it to them, but she had been too far away from Dorothea and Marianne, the students closest to her position. Manuela was closer, but her wound from last month restricted her movements. Hanneman had been covering Lindhart and Lysithea from an archer's attack.

The students themselves were occupied just trying to stay alive. And Byleth couldn't be everywhere at once, even if she could reach them. This situation couldn't be saved.

It would be best to go back before the battle began, even if that stretched the limits of Byleth's power. An ambush was only half as effective if its caught. The enemy was strong, but they had a better chance if they could organize themselves.

Time rewound, the seconds disappearing in an instant. Reversing time took no time at all. Byleth blinked, dizzy from the shift, before yelling out a brisk order to grab their weapons. A few fumbled, but all were armed when a beast crashed through the knights flanking them a moment later.

They fought hard, their formations tighter, and began to push back the assault. Byleth darted from class to class, barking orders and slaying enemies left and right. Things were looking up until, once again, the reinforcement mages appeared.

As if to counter their strategy, they appeared in a different set of locations. Byleth scowled, the bandits had someone surveying the battlefield from a distance.

Again, her students fell. Claude, Marianne, Dorothea, Ashe, Ingrid, Hubert, Edelgard. The same as before, though in a different order.

Byleth cursed fate, even as time froze again. The battle was too large, there were too many students to watch. Help was too far away. How could she fix this?

"I know how you feel," Sothis chimed in, worry in her voice, "but, if stopping the hands of time did not work, I'm afraid we have few other options."

"I'm not letting them die." Speaking to Sothis felt more akin to thinking, alot of the time. The spirit may snap occasionally, but they had the same thoughts and feelings on most issues.

"Can we go back farther?" Byleth needed more time to prepare, more time to protect, more time to call for help.

"Even I have limits." Sothis sighed and Byleth could see her leaning back in her throne through her mind's eye. "If we attempt it, there is no telling what could happen."

"Will we die?"

Sothis took a moment to think. It really was a blessing that their conversations could take place outside of the stream of time. "Perhaps, but the chance is low. I would more expect things to…break."

"Break?"

"We are exhausted as is and are trying to push farther back then we have tried before." Sothis groaned, speaking as if she were explaining this to a child. "There is a chance that our control on time will slip. We may end up further back then we had intended, or we may end up somewhere else entirely."

"That's fine." Byleth would rather either of those options compared to the death of her students. Sothis sighed loudly at her response, but Byleth was already preparing herself to push onward. Or backward, as it was.

She could tell immediately that something was wrong. The usual smooth process felt sluggish, as if a rope that was already pulled taut was trying to stretch further. The scenes around her stuttered and flashed, and Byleth realized her vision was blacking out.

When Byleth woke up, the roar of battle still raged around her. She was laying in the dirt, her sword loose in her hand. Dedue was standing over her, keeping their enemies at bay, while Leonie shook her awake.

"Professor! Wake up, damn it! We need help!"

Her head pounding and her mouth full of cotton, Byleth staggered to her feet. "What…?"

She blinked owlishly as Leonie helped steady her. The world was spinning, but she had a job to do. "Is everyone ok?"

"No! Claude-"

Byleth didn't wait for Leonie to finish before she stopped time again. Bile rose up in her throat at the thought of her failure. It didn't work, and now she was too exhausted to go back again.

Still, she had to save the rest of her students, even if she lost those seven. She took a moment to calm herself, to push back the grief, before looking at her surroundings.

What she saw in her field of vision would have knocked her over if she hadn't been frozen in place. Children. Seven kids on the battlefield.

Byleth called for Sothis before her mind could even register what she saw. But the spirit wasn't responding, no matter how much she shouted for her. Byleth was forced to accept what was before her as a reality she had to deal with. One by one, she took count of them.

A little boy standing next to Leonie. Tanned skin, curly hair. He looked scared, but he observed the battle, taking it all in. It was Claude. Claude was alive. Alive, but somehow a child of nine or ten.

A few meters away another boy stood, shooting small orbs of fire at a bandit. Behind him, a girl stood, knife in hand. Dimitri was riding toward them, his mouth frozen as he shouted. Hubert and Edelgard. Byleth would have frowned if she could. She almost didn't recognize Edelgard, her hair was a completely different color. But, her eyes were the same lavender, narrowed as she glared that their attackers.

Hubert also looked very different, though recognizable. He was older then Claude and Edelgard, but he was clearly still young. Perhaps eleven or twelve. His hair was short and his face round and boyish. It was such a stark difference from the Hubert she knew.

On her other side, Petra was caught mid dive, launching herself away from an enemy attack. Tucked under her arms were two girls, one with brown hair, one with blue. Dorothea and Marianne. Both children as well. Byleth couldn't get a good look at them, tucked away as they were, but it was obvious from their sizes. She thanked the Goddess that Petra was so quick on her feet. She bought them time and Byleth could see Hilda charging in to lend a hand as well.

That was five. Byleth scanned further to see Lorenz, Ferdinand, and Sylvain in a tight defensive circle. Byleth could see a flash of blonde hair between the horse's legs and the body of a boy. Ashe and Ingrid.

That was all of them. All seven were safe and alive.

That just begged the question, what had happened?

"Sothis! Wake up!" Byleth felt a hysterical edge in her words, as much as she tried to stay calm. This was way beyond anything she ever had to deal with before. "_Sothis!_"

Relief flooded the young professor when she heard a faint groan. "Quit babbling, would you? It is your fault I am so tired."

Byleth let the spirit yawn and rouse herself. Sothis needed to let her grumbles out, otherwise she was very unhelpful.

"This is a fine mess you have gotten us into. I told you something would break."

"I thought you meant it would happen to us."

"Oh, were you under the impression that we were the only ones affected by time? Did you actually think that the hands of time did not affect every living, _and non-living_, thing in the world? Is _that_ what you thought?"

Ouch. That was harsh, even for Sothis. Byleth didn't have a response either. This whole thing was making her head spin.

"Sothis, what should we do?"

"There is nothing we can do. Not at the moment, anyway." Sothis replied. Grumpy or no, Sothis wouldn't lie to Byleth, especially when her students were involved. "The young ones are safe. Even if they are smaller then usual. For now, the battle is our first priority."

Byleth hummed her agreement. Battle first, think later. That was more her speed anyway. Taking another moment to settle herself, Byleth loosened her grip on time, allowing it to resume.

"-is a kid! Professor, what kind of magic is this?"

Oh, right. Leonie was talking. Byleth shook out her limbs and gave Dedue a pat on the arm, letting him know she was upright again. "Battle first. We'll figure it out when everyone's safe."

"Got it." Leonie readied her weapon, nudging Claude behind her so he was in the middle of the three on them. Smart kid that he was, Claude pilfered a knife from Leonie's bag and watched for any incoming danger.

First things first, they were too spread out. Byleth hacked down a nearby bandit and spotted Hilda a few meters away. She couldn't lead all of them at once, Hilda and Dimitri would have to support her.

"Hilda! Gather the Deer and form a defensive line!" Byleth shouted over the din of battle. The pink knight raised her axe to show she heard before shouting her own orders at her classmates. Turning her attention elsewhere, Byleth barked another order to Dimitri. "Dimitri! Collect the children! Bring them to me!"

On horseback, Dimitri and Sylvain would be able to move around the field the quickest. That left the Black Eagles, who were down three people.

"Black Eagles, to me!" Petra was already carrying Dorothea and Marianne, the sooner she could deposit them, the better. Then, her, Caspar, and Ferdinand could lend their aid to attacking with the Blue Lions. Bernadetta and Lindhart could support the Golden Deer's defensive line.

In no time at all, Petra was beside Byleth, ducking behind her to drop off her precious cargo.

"Be wary, she bites." Petra hurriedly told Claude, tossing a leather cord to the boy. "Do not let her be running."

Between the two girls Petra dropped off, Claude decided she was talking about the one that was glaring at everyone that looked at her and not the one that was crying. As luck would have it, however, the brunette chose to sit still.

Claude didn't know what was happening, nor did he know where he was. The only thing he could be sure of was that this was a battlefield and one group was trying not to kill them. The terrain was different from Almyra, grassy plains spreading around them with plateaus in the distance. The two girls with him didn't look like they had a clue what was happening either.

While he was pondering this, two more kids were dropped in with them, by a boy with flaming red hair. A girl and a boy. The girl, a blonde, took to trying to comfort the crying girl while the boy huddled as close to the middle as he could. There really wasn't anything to do but wait this out and hope their defenders were friends.

The defensive circle widened, Hilda and Lorenz joining Byleth to help protect their classmates-turned-children. Last, but not least, Dimitri dropped off Edelgard and Hubert. He murmured that he'd be back, surprisingly affection with the little imperial princess, before mounting his horse again and riding off to support the attacking forces.

Byleth kept a sharp eye out, but the mages that had ruined her tactics before never came. Jeralt and Catherine arrived swiftly without the delay and the bandits were pushed off with relative ease. In the back of her mind, Sothis wondered aloud if her students were the only ones affected by this weird time nonsense.

The calm after the battle lasted for only a moment before Byleth had her knees kicked out from behind. She staggered, seeing Dorothea run out from behind her. Fortunately, she didn't get far before Petra caught her.

"Let go! Let go of me! I'll-"

"You should not be running, Dorothea." Petra held the child far enough away that her swinging limbs wouldn't hit her. "There could still be danger lurking."

"Oh dear…" Manuela limped over to the pair, eyeing the thrashing, cursing child. She hadn't known Dorothea in her childhood, Manuela found her when she was in her teens. But, Dorothea had told her stories of her time on the streets of Enbarr. That Dorothea was as distrustful and scared as a feral cat. And, judging by the scratches and bites on Petra's arms, just as dangerous.

"What, and I emphasize, _the hell_ is going on?" Hilda had already taken it upon herself to sit down. She had Marianne tucked against her chest and was rubbing the little girl's back as she sobbed into her shoulder.

"I concur, Professor, what happened? How could something like this happen?" Dimitri gestured to the children, panic creeping into his voice.

"I don't know." Which was the truth, Byleth didn't know what happened, even if she did know the circumstances. All this was moving too quickly, Byleth felt like days had passed, rather than the few hours that had. In fact, it was making her rather dizzy…

There was a clamor of voices as Byleth lost her footing, darkness overtaking her vision.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very silly concept that will be played rather seriously lmao


End file.
